Sine Gunther Thieme, a Tbingen, Germany native, left, and Sally Dare look at photos from Thieme’s year in Vicksburg.(Sam Freeman The Vicksburg Post)

[7/16/04]Sometimes it only takes a few words to determine a relationship.

The bond forged during Sine Gunther Thieme’s stay with the Dare family developed to the point that the Dares consider Thieme a part of the family evident by Thieme calling Sally Dare’s sister, Betty, “Aunt” and Dare referring to Thieme as her fifth child.

“She became part of our family,” Dare said. “It’s been like that since she’s been here. That is the wonderful thing about an exchange student, to my kids she isn’t a guest she’s a part of the family.”

Thieme, who grew up in Tbingen, Germany, spent the 1983-84 school year as a foreign exchange student with the Dare family. She is in Vicksburg this week for Warren Central’s 20th high school reunion. Tonight will be an outing for all family members, and the class will meet Saturday night for a dinner at the Southern Cultural Heritage Complex.

Dr. Daniel Dare said leading up to Thieme’s arrival in July 1983, the family had considered hosting an exchange student. When Gabriella Reeves contacted them, they decided to go ahead.

The pairing of the Dares and Thieme was a good match on paper because of similarities in occupation and religion.

“Her mom’s a pediatrician in Germany,” Daniel Dare said. “We’re Catholic and she’s Catholic. Her mother wanted to make sure she went to church.”

Daniel Dare is an orthopedic surgeon in Vicksburg.

Thieme arrived a few weeks before school and began adjusting to the culture, climate and conversation. She said she learned British English in school and she could read and write English well, but carrying on actual conversations was difficult.

The Dare children, including Thieme’s roommate, then-9-year-old Liz Dare, helped break down the language problem.

“I learned a lot of English from the kids,” she said of Liz and her brother, Jason, who was then 7. “But I probably spoke like a 7-year-old.”

Sally Dare said Thieme “spoke English with a Mississippi accent” by the time she left.

Thieme also had to deal with being the oldest child in the house. In her family, she was the youngest of three children, but in the Dare household she was the eldest by seven years.

Dare said she wasn’t used to having a teenager around the house and at the dinner table.

“My grocery bill went way up,” Dare said. “She loved fresh fruit and cantaloupe. I couldn’t fill her up.”

Thieme said she really enjoyed the food and staying up late to eat ice cream with Daniel Dare.

In school, Thieme excelled in advanded-placement classes. Even though she was a junior in Germany, Thieme took most senior-level courses here and graduated with honors.

Thieme said she didn’t remember much about the graduation ceremony, which doesn’t happen in Germany, except for the big party after.

She then returned to Germany for two more years of high school and college. In 1991, she came back to the United States to study and received her MBA at the University of North Carolina.

She has returned to Vicksburg five times since her graduation, always to welcome arms.

“She became so comfortable with our family that she could call anytime, and it wouldn’t matter when she came,” Dare said.

Thieme now lives in Raleigh, N.C., with her husband, Klaus, and four children, ages 2 to 7. She said she is considering hosting an exchange student of her own, hoping her family can go through a similar experience.